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Mercedes CLA-Class

With more than a year separating my test week with the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 from its debutante ball at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, I had the advantage of a mountain of data and diatribes with which to inform my initial opinion. Conversations with colleagues and coworkers netted splintered…

For the 2016 model year, the US is getting Mercedes' recent European updates to the CLA45 and GLA45 AMG. Engine output jumps to 375 hp and 350 pound-feet of torque, and most gears have shorter ratios. The result is much quicker acceleration.

To be honest, the sub-$30,000 Mercedes-Benz CLA was more a theoretical than a real thing. Squeaking in at $100 below that magical threshold, not counting a $925 destination charge, snagging a CLA anywhere near $30k meant exercising extreme self-control with the options catalog.

Remember when 100 horsepower per liter of displacement was a huge feat of automotive engineering? That sort of power density was the preserve of high-strung motorsports powerplants and a handful of street engines not long ago. Well, today Mercedes has introduced its 2014 CLA45 AMG, and it cranks out an astounding 355 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque from just 2.0 liters. That's 178 horses per liter on pump gas in the high-performance version of Mercedes' entry-level model here in the Stat